I had seen the book The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Steven Pressfield recommended by quite a few experts in the field of creativity and productivity. I finally got around to putting it on hold at the library, and I eventually worked my way to the top. That should tell you something considering the book was released in 2002, and it still had a hold backlog. After finishing it (it's not very long), I'll be buying my own copy for reference. I felt as if I was looking at myself on most of the pages.

Contents:
Book One: Resistance - Defining the Enemy
Book Two: Combating Resistance - Turning Pro
Book Three: Beyond Resistance - The Higher Realm

Pressfield's premise is that resistance is our enemy that fights and prevents us from living the life and becoming the person we want to be. Most observations occupy just a page or two, with titles like Resistance and Trouble and Resistance Never Sleeps. The style is reminiscent of the book The Art of War (hence, the title...), and the flow progresses from identifying how resistence affects your creativity and progress, to how being a professional means going to war against resistance every day, to accepting the existence of "muses" that will appear and help you create if you put in the time and effort to be professional and fight resistance. Since Pressfield is a writer, you often see examples centering around that particular creative outlet. But in reality, these concepts apply to all creative pursuits.

Since I tend to relate well to the concept of "going to war" with elements in your life that hold you back, The War of Art resonates with me. Add to that a real problem I have with resistance, and this book felt like it was written explicitly for me. On top of understanding and relating to the effects of resistance, I also thoroughly understood and accepted the concept of "going pro". Think of it being a soldier who doesn't whine and complain about how things are. They simply do their jobs, commit to excellence in their core skills, and know that the creativity muses will show up if they've done their part in the process.

This is another example of a book addressing an area of my life at the exact time I'm struggling with it. I'll be ordering my own copy of The War of Art and internalizing many of the concepts. I'll then be able to close the gap between the life I live and the life I could be living, if only I didn't succumb to resistance on a regular basis.

If you have already read psychology books dealing with the topic of procrastination
(in this book called resistance), then you might find this book a little bit boring.
It is more kind of an essay about this topic from the perspective a professional writer (a person who wants to be creative) than a handbook how to fight it. If you are interested in the topic of procrastination, I would rather recommend to read the chapter about procrastination from the book Feeling Good. Or recently I read the book Power of full engagement, which is addressing this topic as well and offer more tricks.

There is an abundance of reasons why a person should read this book, and each person will undoubtedly take something out of reading this book. Do you believe that you have an absolute purpose in this world? Are you here to write the next great American novel? Are you hear to compose a masterpiece? Are you here to become the greatest soccer player in the history of the game? If you believe you have a purpose, you need to figure out how to win the psychological battles you have within yourself, defeat the demons that are keeping you from reaching your full potential. That's what this book is all about, and if you lend yourself to it, submit to what the book has to say, you'll come out with some answers, some energy, and some results.

I have purchased ten copies of this book, and I imagine I will be ordering more, to give to all of my artist friends. This is a powerful book that inspires the reader to take bold leaps in their creative journeys...it has become my artistic manifesto!

Steven Pressfield hit the nail on the head in his first non-fiction work. He let's everyone who creates anything know that it's not always easy but it is always worth the effort.

I'd recommend The War of Art to anyone who is in a small business for themselves or thinking of starting their own business. Writers, entrepreneurs, artists, photographers and CEO's will get a LOT out of the wisdom Pressfield shares.